Bacteria is one of the most primitive organisms on earth. Its high
susceptibility to bacteriophages has tailored them to use specific tools to edit their
genome and evade the bacteriophages. This defense system has been developed to be
the most specific genome editing technology of this current period. Previously, various
other tools such as restriction enzymes (RE), zinc finger nucleases (ZNF), and
transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENS) were utilized. Still, its major
limitations led to exploiting the bacterial defense system to edit the genome. CRISPR
technology can be applied in various microbiology, pathology, cancer biology,
molecular biology, and industrial biotechnology, but its limitations, such as off-target
effects due to unspecific alterations, are a major concern. In the future, this effective
gene alteration technology will be developed to treat inherited rare genetic disorders.
This chapter highlights the discovery, components, applications, limitations, and future
prospects of CRISPR-Cas.
Keywords: Bacterial defense system, Cas9, CRISPR-Cas, Genome editing tools, Industrial biotechnology, SgRNA.
